[EM] Geographical districts

[James Gilmour]

Jonathan Lundell  > Sent: Thursday, September 04, 2008 10:52 PM
> > On Sep 4, 2008, at 2:13 PM, Juho wrote:
> > I like natural districts, so one approach would be to let people say
> > and let history decide. The reason why I find "natural" districts  
> > natural in politics is that when people feel like they are part of  
> > some community it is easier to find consensus and cooperate within  
> > that community. And of course the border lines will then follow  
> > whatever natural dividing lines there are.
> 
> That seems wrong to me, but I don't have anything but subjective  
> impressions. Certainly for my local city council and school board the  
> community has no more consensus (and perhaps less) than one finds at  
> the state level. If anything, differences become more pronounced  
> locally.

It is not (or should not be) a question of whether or not there is a consensus at any particular geographical level of community.
The defining factors for "the geographical community" should be the level at which the electors can engage with the particular issue
and the level at which something can actually be done.  In all cases the objective should be to ensure that the various "assemblies"
elected to deal with the issues are properly representative of those they are elected to serve.  For city-wide issues, the
"geographical community" is the whole city.  For issues affecting only my local school, the "geographical community" is the area of
the city served by that school  -  but if there are no fixed geographies associated with the various schools in the city, the
appropriate community for the school board is the families whose children attend the local school. 

The physical geography of the real world (mountains, rivers, roads) and the social geography (travel to work patterns, traditional
administrative centres, major and minor shopping centres) are also important factors that should be taken into account in devising
electoral districts that "make sense" to local electors.  In many cases these physical and social features define the communities
(at various levels) to which the electors feel they belong.  Those who would devise new schemes of electoral districts, especially
to go with new voting systems, ignore the reality of these various "geographically defined communities" at their peril.

James

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